Rice Pudding day

Today we celebrate Rice Pudding day.  Rice pudding is a dessert made with rice, milk, some type of sweetener and sometimes raisins and cinnamon.  I read someone who said rice pudding was the way God intended rice to be eaten. I can't say I disagree with that statement.  Growing up I lived in a "rice" family.  We had rice every Sunday, then once or twice a week.  We never had potatoes.  It got to where I couldn't look at rice.  Once I got out on my own, I only cooked potatoes.  Things were great for a while, and then I had my baby.  I didn't want him to grow up hating potatoes, but I didn't want to cook rice either.  Luckily things worked out.  Working as a nurse, I had to work every other weekend.  On the weekends I had to work, he stayed with my mother, and had rice, then on the weekends he was home, we had potatoes.  Guess that's what they mean by having a balanced diet! 

Now, I can honestly say that I have never cooked rice, never even bought a bag of rice.  I had always heard of rice pudding, but, never had any, kinda hard to make it without the main ingredient.  I do like pudding though, and thought that I might like to try it.  Luckily, a few years ago I finally got my chance.  When I ordered Chinse food, they would always put in a container of fried rice, and one of plain white rice.  My husband would eat the fried rice, and the plain rice would get tossed out.  Hating to be wasteful I thought about rice pudding.  So.  I pullout out the old cookbook and made a batch.  I have to tell you it was pretty darn tasty!  It wasn't hard to make, and the recipe I used is below.

Rice Pudding is made in all areas of the world.  It is very popular in the United Kingdom, and is canned and sold in stores.  Each country has their own variation of the recipe, and has even been mentioned in works of literature.  In Dutch and Flemish Christian folklore it is believed that rice porridge is the meal given to people who go to heaven, and it is eaten out of a bowl with a golden spoon.  Of course my husband would disagree with that.  He believed that in Heaven, everyone would be sitting at long tables eating hot fried catfish all day long.

So, today, on Rice Pudding day try making a batch if you never had any, or even if you have.  You never know what will happen when you try something new.

Rice Pudding

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup uncooked white rice
• 2 cups milk, divided
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2/3 cup golden raisins
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

• In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
• In another saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk, beaten egg and raisins. Cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in butter and vanilla. Serve warm.